Moving forward after successfully amending Section 95 of the Karnataka Land Revenue Act 1964 for the purpose of simplifying land conversion rules, Karnataka government has now introduced an online land conversion system. This is meant for the conversion of agricultural land into land for commercial use.

With such a system in place, Karnataka becomes the first state in India to have ever introduced such a system. This new development is expected to enhance the ease of doing business, and also bring about transparency by reducing instances of corruption.

Why This Has Been Done

The main aim behind introducing a clear and compact system for conversion of agricultural land for commercial practices is to bring down cases of complaints, related to delays and harassment faced by landowners from revenue offices.

Initially, the conversion process of agricultural land into non-agricultural had various issues, including the lack of transparency. Applicants had to submit 20 to 25 documents which were obtained from various departments and agencies, for the completion of the process. To add to these, the process would also take anywhere between 6 months to 1 year to complete.

How Is The New System Set To Work?

This new system for conversion of agricultural land into non-agricultural is affidavit-based. So, the applicants will have to submit an application alongwith other significant documents such as: –

Copy of the mutation record

Copy of RTC or Pahani for the current year

An affidavit with 11E sketch

Phase I

Citizens can visit landrecords.karnataka.gov.in/citizenportal and fill in the required information for generating an affidavit online. Applicants will then have to print the affidavit on a 200 rupee stamp paper and get it notarized. This notarized affidavit can then be scanned and uploaded on the portal for the conversion process.

Phase 2

After the filing of the application online, it is sent to concerned departments electronically for verification. These departments are in turn expected to submit their decision within a span of 30 days. In case this does not happen, the application is deemed approved and processed further for land conversion, by the Revenue Department to the next department in line.

The overall time limit fixed for the land conversion process post the introduction of this new system, is 60 days. If the request is in line with the jurisdictional master plan, the application gets notified of the conversion fee to be paid. Once the fee is paid, the Deputy Commissioner issues a digitally-signed conversion order within 60 days from the date of application filing. Applicants can download the conversion order directly from the portal.